Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamkye has opined that the presence of Churches in any nation does not mean the country will be rid of corruption and decay.
According to him, though Christians make the majority of Ghana’s population, there is still corruption because Christians are not exhibiting righteousness outside the walls of the Church building.
Approximately 71.2% of Ghana’s population are members of various Christian denominations as of 2010 population census. Despite this, the assertion of many is that the Church has not played its role in raising people who will not engage in corruption.
In the 2019 global Corruption Perception Index, Ghana ranked 80 out of 180 countries, scoring 41 out of a possible clean score of 100 in the corruption ranking. Again, this ignited the debate on the Church’s role as a change agent in the nation.
Speaking on the prevalence of corruption in the country in an interview on Accra based Asempa FM Thursday afternoon, April 23, Apostle Nyamkye said if the Church had risen up to its mandate of being the ‘salt and light’ of the world things would have been different.
“When we say 71% of Ghanaians claim to be Christians, one can ask how many of that percentage go to church. But let’s assume 71% of Ghanaians are indeed Christians, if it is so and God has sent us to be salt and light, it is expected that the world will ask where our salt while the land is decaying. When I talk about corruption, I say if the Church rose up, we should be able to overcome the corruption. If we do not see the calling of being a Christian and only look to the Church to provide us with what we will eat, wear and we do not see the mandate given us by Christ that we should go around the world and be the salt and light to change the darkness and the decay, then there is no balance in being the Church of God, then we haven’t realized the mandate given us by God.”
“There are many churches in the country and their focus is based on prophecies so the importance of righteousness is missing. If you take Ghana or come to Accra, or Kumasi, within every 50 metres, you will find a church. For instance, on a Sunday, if you go to a particular 12-classroom block, you can see different churches using each of the 12 rooms for their separate church services and so the nation shouldn’t have been how it is currently. But it is not the church that lifts a nation. The bible says it is righteousness that lifts a nation and so the presence of churches in our nation does not necessarily mean the nation will be changed,” he explained.
According to Apostle Nyamekye, without the focus on righteousness, there will be many churches but corruption in the country will remain.
“If righteousness does not come from the Church, we will have a nation with many churches but the nation cannot be lifted. We have to go out with the values and principles of the kingdom of God and that is what changes the world. Gandhi said ‘I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians’ because if we do not live by the teachings of Christ, the relevance of the Church will be missing.”
”The churches have done some to a large extend but more needs to be done. Unless we change what comes from the pulpit to the members and lift up righteousness and remember we are here to shine our light to defeat the darkness and heal the decay and illness with our salt, then there will be churches but corruption will remain…having said all this, 71% is a big number so if Christians put in efforts and stay away from bribery and corruption, the change will be obvious. It could also mean that many Christians do not understand Christianity and they are only playing religion,” he noted
Source: ABCNewsgh.com
